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New KnowledgeWorks Toolkit Helps School Districts Create a Community-Wide Vision for Personalized Learning

March 1st, 2018

Cincinnati, Ohio, (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – When Diane Mankins, superintendent of Marysville Exempted School District in Marysville, Ohio, decided to pursue innovative changes in her district, she held more than 20 community meetings that were open to parents, educators, community leaders, local businesses and other stakeholders. The conversations helped the district pair the interests of students with the workforce needs of the community, resulting in a vision for personalized learning, a partnership with Honda North America and the design of the district’s STEM-focused early college high school.

This example of connecting with the entire community to develop a system-wide vision is one of many found in KnowledgeWorks’ new toolkit Laying the Groundwork for a Community-Wide Vision for Personalized Learning. The toolkit is designed to help school districts engage all stakeholders in crafting and implementing a vision for personalized learning.

“Not every school or classroom is the same, but elevating a common vision ensures that everyone is grounded in the importance of this work,” explained Virgel Hammonds, Chief Learning Officer of KnowledgeWorks. “We want this toolkit to help districts and their learning communities facilitate conversations with one another that lead to meaningful change for students.”

Through interactive worksheets and questions for both district leaders and community members to consider, KnowledgeWorks hopes the toolkit will help district leaders think ahead to how they can engage their entire community to make personalized learning a reality for every student, including:

Questions and considerations for finding the right people to champion the work of personalized learning.

Direction on how to identify factors that may impact implementation.

Help with creating messaging to introduce their vision with key audiences and sustaining enthusiasm for personalized learning.

“The sooner districts engage diverse individuals from their whole community, the more successful their efforts toward implementing personalized learning will be,” said Hammonds. “A strong vision for education, shared and designed by the whole community, can create transformational change.”

About KnowledgeWorks
KnowledgeWorks is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing personalized learning that empowers every child to take ownership of their success. With nearly 20 years of experience exploring the future of learning, growing educator impact and working with state and federal policymakers, our passionate team partners with schools and communities to grow a system-wide approach to sustain student-centered practices so that every child graduates ready for what’s next. www.knowledgeworks.org